Theme Park, by Seo Junyoung

After a baby is born, we always take them to a zoo. We happily show them the animals that they saw in a picture book. As my father did for me – “this is a lion and that is a tiger.” It is much more efficient to show children a picture book. 

In the early 19th century, rhinos were confined within a concrete enclosure in the name of preserving wild animals, and such a facility was called a zoo. However, now 200 years later, wild elephants are still kept within concrete enclosures. Animals with prosperous fertility are treated as surplus animals, being killed or sold off. Animals born within the concrete jail never see a jungle and die therein. In such conditions, they are no longer animals but marionettes.

After a baby is born, we always take them to a zoo. We happily show them the animals that they saw in a picture book. As my father did for me – “this is a lion and that is a tiger.” It is much more efficient to show children a picture book. Yet, what a child sees is the animals’ stereotyped behaviors. Children only get to see animals in captivity, their self-comforting and self-tormenting behaviors, such as strolling back and forth behind the bars or licking themselves. We laugh and talk with our children while watching animals going crazy.

Humans are also reproduced and trained to meet expected social standards and productivity. They become salarymen who are confined within the concretes of a social norm. Salarymen are confined, controlled, and reproduced. Humans repeat stereotypical behaviors as well but in different realms and with different cycles. Salarymen are mere tools of society for production.

I can no longer go to a zoo. One day when I saw a monkey and clicked the shutter of a camera, the monkey mocked me. From that day on, a monkey puts a camera on me. I became a monkey outside the confinement of a theme park. I even became a marionette for monkeys.

Photographs & Text: Seo Junyoung Website: www.peoplein.net